Special Task Division
The Special Task Division, abbreviated STD,This pun only works in English; a literal French translation reads division des tâches spéciales (DTS), although a more formal translation would be division des opérations spéciales (DOS, or if you're feeling really punny, DDOS). is the primary special operations group of the Women's Republic of France. Originally created for high-risk operations in irradiated territory, following reclamation of the French countryside it was repurposed as the national special forces unit containing the most elite soldiers of the Women's Army of France. The STD is controversial for challenging civilian control of the military, notably during the 2106 constitutional crisis, and has engaged in several high-profile international operations, namely, the hunt for OSIRIS, the Rosemary incident, and Operation Scorpion. History The Special Task Division was established circa 2063, shortly after the founding of the Women's Army of France; information on its early history was purged in a fire at headquarters in the 2090s. The STD was originally a suicide unit for secret operations ("special tasks") in heavily-irradiated territories, and survivors came to comprise the toughest members of the armed forces. Following regional recovery the STD was reorganized as a highly secretive special forces unit. The STD began overseas covert operations as early as the 2080s; it participated in a sting operation in the Volgan Federation against Fiorino Napoletani, fugitive leader of the OSIRIS death cult in 2092. ''Rosemary'' cover-up Some time after the disintegration of the Pirate Confederacy, the French government hired Isabel D'Cruz to raid the HMS Rosemary for weapons-grade nuclear material. D'Cruz betrayed the contract and murdered the ship's crew, leading to an unclear series of events that ended in the sinking of a UN supply convoy and a Japanese naval patrol in early 2105. Paris retaliated by raiding D'Cruz's complex, and STD operative Lucie Bardot shot her dead. Before her death, D'Cruz revealed the government had covered up the incident to obfuscate its objective. Bardot, whose sister Geneviéve was one of the murdered sailors, suffered declining mental health over the next several months. When her previous attempts to bring the conspiracy to public attention failed, she went on a murder-suicide shooting rampage at the Marie Curie College in the summer. Its exact impact remains indeterminate, as the Pettigrew administration remained unaffected and later governments continued to deflect Bardot's actions as merely the result of untreated post-traumatic stress disorder. Involvement in 2106 constitutional crisis : 2106 French constitutional crisis}} Seeking to avenge the death of Napoletani, OSIRIS launched a cruise missile at the Palais Élysée early in 2106. While Pettigrew escaped, most of the government was killed and in the confusion she was pronounced legally dead. Radical talk-show host Jeannette Hiver seized upon loggerheads between the parties to seize the Presidency through a populist coup. Fearing Hiver would provoke war with a consolidated Germany, Pettigrew emerged from hiding to challenge Hiver's claim to the Presidency, sparking a constitutional crisis that was handed over to the Supreme Court. Prior to her political career, Pettigrew was an STD sniper,Not so coincidentally, Napoletani's assassination was at her hands. and when the judiciary looked poised to rule in Hiver's favour, the unit intervened the evening before the vote, leading the judges to uphold Pettigrew as incumbent head of state. Fearing further retaliation, Hiver fled to Indonesia. Operation Scorpion In early 2113, President Aimée Durand was assassinated by an unknown assailant. Vice-President Annette Renard, who had previously served as deputy to Hiver's short term, invited her back to France; in exchange for ceding her the presidential office, Renard was appointed Commissioner of the STD. In addition to a calculated political move, Renard intended to use the office as an act of revenge against Hiver's own machinations during the '06 coup that included threats to her and her brother's life. Upon receiving the portfolio, Renard began plotting an operation to annex Monaco, which had consistently rebuffed Paris' diplomatic overtures and whose continued independence she had callously decried in 2110 as "A blight on all Frenchwomen, north and south". While Hiver refused to endorse the plan in favour of an expedition to the Indonesian War, Renard went behind her back and launched Operation Scorpion in late Spring 2114. Co-opting a Parisian gang, the STD staged a hostage crisis at the French embassy in the city of Monaco. Using the pretext that the country was incapable of protecting foreign nationals, Paris demanded the Monegasque government to permit French forces to pursue alleged extremist remnants or be treated as collaborators. While the game ended without official resolution, the Turn 19 update implies France invaded Monaco by force. Controversy By the 2090s, there was widespread speculation that the STD served as a Fourth Wave vanguard abroad, engaging in clandestine wetwork to eliminate "misogynist" politicians in rival states. Whether it was affiliated with the feminist cells active in Austria and Germany remains unknown. Even before the Rosemary debacle was exposed, the STD suffered widespread suspicion over perceptions that it acts extra-legally and holds the civilian government in contempt. It has gained notoriety for its clique-like nature, with roleplay suggesting the unit does not co-operate with commissioners appointed from outside its own ranks. Regardless of her legal claim, Pettigrew's return to office was regarded as a counter-coup and she did not attempt to run for office in 2107; similarly, Renard recognized that control of the STD granted her considerable leverage over Hiver's administration. Notes Category:Special forces units in IOT14